The No. 30 LSU men’s tennis team fell to No. 13 University of South Florida, 4-0, in the ITA Kickoff championship match in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers came one step short of advancing to the the ITA National Indoor Championships for the second-straight year.
The men’s team (1-1) defeated Mississippi State on Saturday to advance to the championship final, where inclement weather delayed the match two and a half hours.
Against the Bulls (2-0), the Tigers came out flat in both doubles and singles play, failing to overcome USF’s momentum early in the afternoon.
LSU senior Boris Arias and junior Jordan Daigle opened the Tigers’ doubles matches with a  6-2 loss the Bulls’ duo of senior Dominic Cortone and sophomore Justin Roberts. 
The Tigers struggles in doubles continued as USF swept the remaining doubles matches. Senior Roberto Cid and senior Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz defeated LSU sophomore Gabor Csonka and senior Andrew Korinek, 6-3. Junior Sasha Gozun and junior Vadym Kalyuzhnyy’s 5-3 victory against the Tigers’ pair of junior Justin Butsch and senior Tam Trinh clinched the doubles point for the Bulls. .
In singles play,  Korinek fell to USF’s Kalyuzhnyy in two sets, 6-1 and 6-3, while Gonzalez-Muniz defeated the Tigers’ Csonka 6-0, 1-6, 6-1.
Cid beat Daigle, 7-6, 7-2,  to clinch the match for USF.
“I think South Florida did a good job of coming out really aggressive having a had a long match yesterday,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown in a press release, “I thought we responded really well after we got down and we will take some good lessons from today and move on.”
The No. 21 LSU women’s tennis team clinched  a spot in the Women’s ITA National Indoor Championships on Feb. 5, in Madison, Wisconsin, with a 4-2 win against No. 24 Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Sunday.
The Lady Tigers (4-0) secured the double’s point with a come-from-behind win as LSU junior Joana Vale Costa and sophomore Ryann Foster defeated No. 35 senior Kendal Woodard and sophomore Paige Hourigan of Georgia Tech by a score of 7-6. The Tigers’ pair of LSU senior Ella Taylor and junior Skylar Holloway came away with a 7-5 win against  USF’s senior Megan Kurey and junior Alexa Anton-Ohlmeyer.
In the singles draw, the women’s team won a tightly contested match coming down to the final point with LSU freshman Jessica Golovin beating Georgia Tech’s Hourigan to clinch a victory for the Lady Tigers by a score of 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
The No. 21 LSU women’s team swept No. 35 DePaul University on Saturday to advance to the championship round on Sunday in Atlanta.
“I was so proud to watch this team come together and fight an incredible battle,” said LSU coach Julia Sell in a press release. “I thought we missed some opportunities to extend our leads but our team just stayed very composed to get the victory.”
Both the men’s and women’s  teams will travel to Houston, Texas, to take on Rice on Sunday.
You can reach Justin Talbot on Twitter @JT15_TDR

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Markus Hüfner

Senior Ella Taylor practices for the Wildcat Invitational on Sept. 24 in the LSU Tennis Complex.